Mowing-machine



L. e e h s m. e e h S 3 R m H 0 BA AM G ON I w M a d 0 M o w Patented Apr. 22. 1890.

1 T NESSES.

ATTORNEY.

2 t e e h S w on e h A 3 a m H 0 BA AM G ON I w M m d 0 M 0 w No. 425,968. Patented Apr. 22, 1890.

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(No Model.) s Sheets-Sheet 3. D. 0. ABEL. MOWING MACHINE.

No. 425,968.- Patented APIHIZZ, 1890.

2 1 y wi W ml? W fi STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DURHAM O. ABEL, OF YOUNGSTOlVN, OHIO.

MOWlNG-MACHINE.

SIE'EGIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 425,968, dated April 22, 1890.

Application filed November 24, 1886. Serial No. 219,837. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DURHAM O. ABEL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Youngstown, in the county of Mahoning and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mowing-Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of my invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification.

My invention relates to the mechanism by which the points of the guard fingers are raised or depressed, or what is commonly known in the art as tilted. It is desirable that the shoe which carries the finger-bar and the cutting apparatus should tilt or rock as nearly on a line as possible with the center of the sickle-eye, so that the register of the knives or sickle with the guard-fingers may not be changed by the different positions which the shoe may assume in tilting. This has been accomplished hitherto by hanging the tilting shoe 011 an overhanging arc of the main shoe, around which it rolls, and the center of whose motion is that of the sickle-eye.

(Vt'de patent granted F. H. Bartlett, No.

340,083, April 20, 1886.) The objection to this construction is that the mechanism is somewhat cumbersome and expensive to manufacture, and the center of movement of the tilting shoe being in advance of the center longitudinalline of the finger-bar the latter is not readily or easily rocked. In order to remedy these defects, I have pivoted the tilting shoe on the center longitudinal line of the finger-bar, or nearly so, to the main shoe by a pin or bolt passing through lugs suitably perforated in the tilting and main shoes. The sickle-eye is necessarily by this construction somewhat in advance of the pivot on which the shoe tilts; but the pivot of the tilting shoe is so near the plane of reciprocation of the sickle-eye that the register of the knife or sickle is not materially changed. The tilting shoe being by this arrangement pivoted at or near the center of gravity of the fin ger-bar and cutting apparatus, the tilting of the shoe is more easily effected, and I have found in practice that by disconnecting the tilting bar from the tilting shoe the cutting apparatus will pass readily over obstructions and conform to the inequalities of the ground. I also provide the tilting shoe with ears or lugs, which, taking into suitable grooves in the main shoe, prevent lateral displacement of the finger-bar and assist in maintaining the cutting apparatus at right angles to the line of draft.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, and in which similar letters of reference indicate like parts, Figure 1 is a front perspective view of a mowing-machine embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a perspective View of the main shoe and the tilting shoe, showing theirpivotal connections; Fig. 3, a perspective view of the main shoe; Fig. 4:, a perspective View of the tilting shoe. Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing the relation of the sickle-eye or pitman connection and the pivot of the tilting shoe.

A A are the carrying and driving wheels mounted upon the axle A, from which motion is communicated in any well-known way to the crank-wheel A and pitman A The tilting shoe B has the groove 1 in which the finger-bar b is bolted by the bolts 17 13 which also secure the sickle-holder 11 (see Fig. 1) in place. The main shoe B is formed on the forward end of the tubular arm B through which the rod or shaft 1) passes, the extreme ends of the rod 12 being secured in a down-hanger from the axle and in the coupling-arn1 B of the frame. The rod b forms a pivot on which the tubular arm B carrying with it the tilting shoe and the cutting apparatus, may be rocked, so as to fold the finger-bar or move it from a horizontal into a vertical position. The sides of thet-ilting shoe B are formed with the lugs c c, which take, respectively, into the grooves c 0 formed on the sides of the main shoe l3, and also with the lug c, which is perforated at c c at the longitudinal center of the fin ger-bar. The main shoe is formed with the lug cl,perforated at CZ, and a pivot bolt or pin (Z (see Fig. 2,) passing through the holes (2 c, pivotally secures the tilting shoe B to the main shoe B. The rod E is connected with the tilting shoe I3 at o and also with a suitable tilting and adjusting lever F, within reach of the driver and of any well-known form of construction.

The sickle or scythe eye is reciprocated by the pitman just in front of the lug (I, and its distance from the said lug in advance thereof is not sufficient to materially change the register of the knife when the shoe is tilted.

Having now described my invention, What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination, in a mowing-machine,

of the main shoe, a vertical perforated lug Vertical perforated lugs at the center longitudinal line of the finger-bar, grooves at the side of the main shoe, and ears at the side of the tilting shoe taking into the grooves in the main shoe, as and for the purpose specified.

3. The combination of the main shoe, the tilting shoe, and the finger-bar carried by the tilting shoe, the latter being pivoted to the .main'shoe on the center longitudinal line of the finger-bar, and an adj usting-lever connected to the tilting shoe, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

DURHAM o. ABEL.

WVitnesses:

W. R. STEWART, O. O. WooDWoRTH. 

